


Irreplaceable

by Karee_the_wise



Series: Conquest of Spaces [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: A lot of blushing, A range of coping methods, Altean witchcraft, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Anxiety, Bonding Moments, Cooking/baking, Depression, Dubious Science, Everyone's just trying to keep their shit together, F/M, Fluff, Hunk and Keith are bros, Hunk and Shay are adorable together, Insomnia, Intense babysitting, Lots of Research, M/M, Major Hunk/Lance bromance, Platonic Relationships, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, Science, Set between season 2 + 3, Sleepovers, Slowburn Klance, So many emotions, Stressful Situations, Swearing, Team as Family, They're all kids- let's just remember that, Where's Shiro when you need him?, ace!pidge, blade of marmora, family arguments
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2017-09-06
Packaged: 2018-12-22 06:00:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11961186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Karee_the_wise/pseuds/Karee_the_wise
Summary: In the aftermath of Shiro’s disappearance, the team try their best to continue even when it all seems too much. And with a dangerous secret being kept hidden, things will certainly get worse before they improve.Meanwhile, as they all come together to tackle wave after wave of problems, a certain rivalry becomes a thing of the past.This story takes place in the period between season 2 and 3.





	1. Sinking

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! :D I'm back with the sequel of 'Something small and precious'. 
> 
> I know I said it was going to take place in season 3, but I changed my mind. This fic fills in the gap between season 2 and 3. I wanted to explore all of the team's reactions to Shiro being gone, and how they deal with Libby's powers. So basically this fic is more of an exploration of the characters, which will be followed by a season 3 canon divergence with a more intricate and dramatic plot line. (At least, that's the plan.) 
> 
> Okay, so that's all I have to say. Happy reading everyone!

**Week 1 after Shiro:**

The castle had more people living in it than ever before, but you couldn’t tell. After their battle with Zarkon and Shiro’s disappearance, everything just started falling apart at the seams.

“We’re heading back to the Blade of Marmora’s base, to drop off Kolivan,” Allura announced at breakfast on the morning following the sleepover.

Everyone had turned up except Keith. He’d disappeared from the rec room before anyone else was awake and no one had seen him since.

“Unfortunately,” Allura sighed before continuing. “The castle has not yet recovered from our last altercation with the Galra.”

They all bristled. No one had forgotten that.

“So that means we can’t simply wormhole there,” Coran finished. “We’ve no choice but to travel by impulse power only.”

“Meaning?” Pidge asked, flopped over a steaming cup of space tea.

“Meaning it will take us about 21 quintants to get there,” Allura said.

Lance raised his eyebrows, bouncing Libby on his lap. “That’s a lot of quintants.”

“Yeah, it’s about three weeks,” Hunk said.

So they effectively had three weeks of nothing to do. A holiday of sorts. Except, not. It felt a lot more like they were taking leave from work to grieve the death of a family member.

…

Hunk stress bakes. It’s something he’s always done, ever since his parents had taught him how to cook. Nothing helped him relieve anxiety more than handling food and mixing flavours. He spent the majority of his hours in the kitchen, trying desperately to come up with new recipes with all the alien ingredients they had. They had stocked up quite nicely before the Grand Plan.

Also, the more he cooked, the stranger the concoctions became. Hunk started with cookies and cakes and pie-like inventions. Then he moved on to pasta and rice, which turned out terribly. After that, he decided to attempt burritos and calzones. Hunk was sorely disappointed with the results, but that didn’t stop him trying again. And again.

“Hunk, what is this even supposed to be?” Pidge asked one evening, picking at the dish with her fork. “It looks like pizza but also like… a cow pat?

Lance glared at her. “I think it’s great Hunk. Really yummy,” he said, shovelling the food into his mouth without stopping to ponder the flavour of the brown mush on a crunchy base.

Hunk sighed, running his hands over his face. “It’s a work in progress.”

About half-way through the week Lance started invading the kitchen to hang out, with Libby attached to his hip. He looked like a dead man walking; dark circles cut beneath his eyes, his skin pale and sickly, and his blue eyes glazed over.

“Mind if we join the food party, dude?” Lance asked, standing at the door and eyeing Hunk’s ice-cream attempt.

Hunk nodded vaguely, not looking up from his food. “You know what this castle needs? Dessert. We’re all stressed out, like, all the time; we need something to binge on. So, I’m making ice-cream!”

Lance laughed lightly, hopping up onto the counter. Libby giggled when he began to tickle her tummy softly, teasing her in Altean.

Silence enveloped them for a while.

Hunk was concentrated on his cooking and his eyes didn’t stray once from his task.

Lance, on the other hand, had let his eyes fall shut. His arms stilled around Libby’s waist, holding her against him. He let the darkness fill his mind as he rested his eyes, relishing the moment’s peace. Then Lance jerked his head back, hitting it against the overhead cupboard. He couldn’t fall asleep. Not here. “Shit,” he swore, raising a hand to rub the back of his head.

Libby just hummed nonchalantly.

Lance glanced down at Hunk, who hadn't even noticed. He sighed. Perhaps a chair was safer; he was likely to nod off again.

“Hey Lance, d’you mind tasting this for me?” Hunk turned, holding out a spoonful of pink gloop. “It’s fruity and sweet. I tried to replicate chocolate but that didn’t go so well.”

Lance shrugged. “Sure.” He leaned down for Hunk to feed him the ice-cream. “Hmm, not bad. I like it. Kinda reminds me of kiwi.”

Hunk grinned. “That’s what I thought! D’you think it needs anything else? I’m tempted to add some Altean spices…”

“Not really my area of expertise,” Lance said. “Just go with your gut, buddy. It’s not failed you yet.” He winced slightly as he remembered the disaster of a pizza Hunk had served up yesterday. “You can’t really go wrong with ice-cream anyway.”

“Thanks man.” Hunk patted his shoulder and got straight back to work.

Lance disappeared off then, believing it best to just let Hunk do his thing in peace. Besides, hanging out with Hunk hadn’t really helped his own problem as much as he’d hoped.

He continued to pop in throughout the week though. It had only taken a brief mention about his concern for Libby’s diminishing food supply to spur Hunk into a full-blown rampage, as he cooked up as many different types of baby foods suitable for Libby’s consumption as possible. Lance was kind of freaked out by it if he was honest. He had never seen Hunk throw himself into food like this before, and that was saying something.

It was really a testament to how zoned out everyone was by the end of the week because they had all stopped questioning the dishes Hunk served up. They were far too deep in their post-Shiro depression and existential crises to do anything other than simply eat the food put in front of them. It was rather worrying.

…

Lance was an absolute wreck. He was getting next to no sleep because Libby barely slept anymore. She would wake him up with her persistent crying so frequently that Lance had basically given up on his old sleep schedule. It seemed as though Libby was suffering from nightmares. She refused to be parted from him for more than a varga at a time. So night-times passed very much like his days did, a blur of babysitting and napping with Libby curled against Lance’s chest as she gripped his shirt desperately.

Lance had accepted by the third day that 3 hours of sleep was a luxury, if you included his sporadic naps throughout the day too. He often didn’t even get that much. He could kiss his beauty regime goodbye.

With all the extra “free time” he was now faced with, Lance had become increasingly creative with how he spent it. He would interchange between reading aloud to Libby and translating the comics in the rec room and knitting clothes for her and the rest of the team, out of the Altean yarn he’d found in a supply cupboard. Lance had wanted to ask Allura or Coran for permission to use it but the pair were nowhere to be found recently.

That was another problem. With Coran’s mysterious disappearing acts, Lance was burdened with caring for Libby all the time, which normally would’ve been fine. But now, Lance was barely hanging on. He didn’t know how much more of it he could take. Like, physically.

Lance had slipped back into zombie mode. Except this time around it was far, far worse, and there seemed to be no escape. He was getting tireder and tireder every day, barely able to stay awake during dinner times and certainly unable to maintain a conversation. Lance would be surprised that no one had noticed his suffering yet, if they weren’t all suffering themselves.

…

“Her markings…” Allura whispered, pulling Coran aside in the corridor the morning after the sleepover.

Coran nodded solemnly. “They’re gone.”

“What does this mean?” Allura bit her lip. “Do you think she…?”

“Still has her powers?” Coran finished. He sighed, running his hands through his hair. “Most likely. We should tell the paladins; we can’t keep something like this from them, especially Lance.”

Allura looked pained. She placed her hands on her hips and shifted her feet. “No, not yet. We keep this between us until we know more, until we know if she’s dangerous.”

Coran frowned. “What are you suggesting, Princess?”

“Research,” Allura answered. “I’m sure there’ll be something we can use in the castle’s archives. We should also discuss this with Kolivan. He may be able to shed some more light on the situation.”

“In that case, I believe Slav will also be useful,” Coran added. “He seems to be well read on Altean witchcraft.”

“Okay then.” Allura nodded. “I shall call a meeting. The paladins cannot find out about this. I don’t want them hurting more than they already are.” She spun around and walked off, her white locks flowing behind her.

Coran shut his eyes briefly. He couldn’t help but think they were making a huge mistake.

The four of them convened daily, for hours on end, in the castle library. Luckily for them, only Pidge seemed to know where the library was and she wasn’t exactly hitting the books as of late. So it was relatively easy to keep their meetings a secret.

Together they delved into the immense archives and tried their hardest to dig up something helpful. Slav had a lot of interesting facts to share about Altean magic, especially its development in infancy, but unfortunately it only got them so far in understanding Libby’s situation. She was half Galra too, of course.

Books and articles were strewn across the table, with a large mind-map being drawn up in the middle.

Slav had pens in two hands, was typing with a third, and in the others he held up various papers. He sighed. “There’s nothing here to explain the impacts of Galra DNA on Altean magic,” he said. “If there has been a case like this before, the Alteans certainly don’t have it documented.”

Allura groaned, flopping her head against the table. “This is a nightmare. How can such a small child be this big a problem?”

“If you wish Princess, I can look into finding Libby a new home,” Kolivan said. “I strongly believe that now, with the added danger she may pose to the paladins, that the child may be better off under the Blade’s care until a better home can be located.”

Allura was all kinds of relieved. She smiled at him weakly. “Thank you Kolivan. I- I think you are right about that.”

Kolivan nodded.

The group fell quiet.

Coran continued flipping through the book in front of him. His eyes scanned the curved Altean characters but took nothing in. He was hesitant about rushing into relocating Libby, seeing it as a betrayal of the paladins to do so behind their backs. Coran didn’t want to think about how hurt Lance would be if and when he found out they were planning to send Libby away without consulting him first.

So, with their contingency plan in place, Allura, Coran, and Slav threw themselves into research of Altean witchcraft. They realised now it was unlikely they’d find anything on Altean-Galra hybrids, but at least if they knew all they could about the subject in general, then they would be as prepared as possible for when the other shoe inevitably dropped.

Meanwhile, Kolivan communicated with Blade members back at the base. He informed them of the success of the Grand Plan and began to organise more missions to dismantle the remaining Galra empire. Kolivan also began his search for a new home for Libby, just in case it came to that. The last thing the universe needed was Voltron to be out of commission because of a child.

The four of them thought they’d gotten away with their secret meetings. None of the paladins seemed to notice that they were missing for most of the days, locked away in the library, neck-deep in academic articles and conspiracy theories.

Equally, neither Allura and Coran had paused a moment to consider what the paladins were up to. They were too busy worrying, fearing, dreading about the future to focus on what was unfolding in the present.

…

Pidge was fine. She was just busy; she had a lot of stuff to fix, to finish, to start. Pidge was fine. Everything was fine. Lance tried to talk to her sometimes, catching up with her after lunch or dinner, but Pidge brushed him off. She didn’t need to talk with him about anything. She didn’t need to talk to any of them. Pidge was fine. Everything was fine.

Technology was her friend. It was her best friend at this point. Technology was quiet, un-opinionated, and didn’t care whether or not Pidge cried to herself as she worked or not. Technology wasn’t going to ask her how she felt about Shiro being gone, or the fact that her new family was breaking apart before her eyes.

Pidge was fine. She was fine because nothing was wrong.

The first day after the sleepover Pidge spent every waking hour in Green’s hangar, tweaking and fixing and improving. She even polished and cleaned her lion, making sure it was in prime condition. God knows why. They weren’t exactly Voltron anymore, were they? They weren’t really anything anymore. They were just a group of people trying to keep it together.

After that, Pidge moved on to other useful tech that people wanted fixing or building. All she needed was something to keep her hands and mind occupied.

“Hey guys,” she greeted, finding Hunk and Lance holed up in the kitchen, with Libby of course. Libby never seemed to leave Lance’s side these days. A strange aroma filled the air and Pidge glanced wearily down at the soup-like substance on the hob.

“Yo Pidge, wassup?” Lance was flopped in a chair, feet up and resting on another chair. Libby was plopped on his lap, twisting her fingers in his hair. She didn’t even notice Pidge come in.

“D’you guys want me to fix you up with any tech?” Pidge asked.

Lance frowned, eyeing her pale face and tired eyes. She looked like a reflection of him and Lance was well aware of how awful he looked.

Pidge caught his staring and just shrugged. “I’ve finished all my old projects,” she said in way of an explanation.

Hunk finally turned away from his food. “I’ve been thinking, would it be possible to rig up a video-calling system so I could contact Shay on the Balmera? It’s just, I haven't been able to see her in a really long time.”

It was a great idea, actually. Being able to see and chat with Shay would be really good for Hunk’s anxiety.

Pidge hummed, stroking her chin. “It’s possible. They’d need to set up a receiving dish on the Balmera… but it could work. Okay Hunk, I’ll get it sorted for you.”

Hunk smiled briefly. “Thanks Pidge. You’re the best.” His eyes quickly dropped back to the baby food he was cooking up.

“How about you, Lance? Any requests?” Pidge turned to him.

He sighed, stroking Libby’s ears idly. Lance wasn’t keen on fuelling Pidge’s unhealthy technology-based coping method and insomnia, but at this point he didn’t kid himself into thinking that by requesting nothing he would be helping Pidge in any way. “A camera would be awesome.”

“A camera.” Pidge nodded. “That’s easy enough. Missing selfies already?”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Yeah. But that’s not the point.”

Pidge snorted as she made to leave. “Sure it isn’t.”

No one saw Pidge outside of dinner time for the rest of the week. She had officially locked herself in the tech lab.

…

Speaking of no-shows, Keith seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth. Or well, the face of the castle ship. Was he still on the ship? Yes. Lance had checked the scanner several times to make sure of that.

Keith was holed up in his room for hours and hours, just lying on his bed fully-clothed and staring up at the ceiling. His chest felt heavy, aching with loss, and he had no motivation to move or do anything. Keith felt helpless, pointless.

He tried his best to avoid the others and he succeeded. Keith wouldn’t come out at meal times, opting instead to sneak into the kitchen in the middle of the night to steal food. He wasn’t sleeping anyway so he might as well.

Keith didn’t even train. That’s how depressed he was. And yes, it had taken him a couple of days, but Keith eventually worked out that his sudden drop into the depths of a dark, hopeless ocean was in fact depression. He’d felt the same way after Shiro’s first disappearance. He had no idea how to make it go away, if it even could, without Shiro magically appearing out of thin air.

He hadn’t seen himself in a mirror for days, but Keith reckoned he probably looked terrible. With the lack of sleep, lack of food, lack of light, lack of meaning. Keith was struggling to not break down most of the time. But that’s not to say he hadn’t cried. He had, many times.

Why did Shiro have to be gone? Why couldn’t everything just be fine for once? Was that too much to ask?

Apparently so.

...

**Week 2 after Shiro:**

By the second week, Hunk found that his burning need to bake and cook was dying down. His hands shook less and his heart palpitations occurred a lot less frequently. He was sleeping better now too and things seemed to be settling into place. That’s not to say he avoided the kitchen completely; he still considered it his duty to feed the team, and he was proud to do so.

“Morning,” Lance greeted around a yawn as he dragged himself and Libby into the kitchen for breakfast.

Hunk turned to him, eyebrows raised. “Morning. You’re… up early.”

Lance paused and sent his friend an odd look. “More like haven’t actually slept yet,” he muttered taking a seat. “What’s on the menu today, buddy? I am starving.”

Hunk gaped at Lance, as if his appearance was only just registering. Lance looked fucking awful. “Have you slept at all in the last week? I thought I was having a hard time but… dude you look seriously grim.”

So he’d finally noticed. That was a good sign; it meant Hunk was recovering. Lance sighed, rubbing his eyes. “Yeah, not so much. Libby’s keeping me up big time. I’m getting three hours at most. I nap though, so it’s not too bad.”

“I’m feeding you, right now,” Hunk said, serving up a sizeable portion of space porridge. “Then you’re teaching me how to look after Libby.”

Lance glanced up at him, eyes wide. “You’re serious?”

Hunk nodded. “Bro, you look like death warmed over. I’m helping out with the babysitting from now on. Non-negotiable.”

“Hunk, I love you,” Lance told him, leaning up to kiss his cheek sloppily. “So much, bro. You’re the best.”

“Love you back, Lance,” Hunk said grinning madly. He lifted Libby up off Lance’s lap and cradled her against his chest. Libby wasn’t really sure how to react to that. “Where’s Coran by the way? I thought he would’ve taken over if you needed sleep…”

Lance pursed his lips. “I have no clue. I swear he and Allura keep on disappearing off somewhere… D’you think they’re up to something?”

Hunk frowned, stroking Libby’s head. “Up to what, though?”

“Good point.”

Then began the babysitting crash course. Lance set about teaching Hunk everything he knew about kids and how to keep them in good spirits.

Hunk and Lance decided that sleepovers were the way to go. That way, they could take shifts with Libby throughout the night and both get around six hours in total, if they pushed breakfast back an hour or so. Usually, they camped out in Lance’s room, since that was what Libby was used to. The one sleeping would take the bed, the one babysitting would lay on a spare quilt on the floor.

The sleepovers killed two birds with one stone: Lance’s sleep deficiency and Libby’s hyperactivity and traumatised behaviour.

The pair also tried their best to help Libby to overcome her heightened fear of abandonment. They cuddled her, coaxing her to sleep curled up on the quilt with them when they babysat. Eventually, it began to work. Libby would fall asleep more quickly and for longer when attached to one of the boys, and it wasn’t long before she happily slept for at least five hours at a time. It was a miracle, really. Now both Lance and Hunk could get a decent amount of sleep every night.

Hunk found that the babysitting distracted him from his lingering anxiety and Lance regained his energy and colour after a few days. Although, he had yet to return to his usual sprightly self; the exhaustion still had a strong hold on his body.

…

Keith turned up for breakfast one day and it was the first time that everyone had been in the same room for over a week. Even Slav and Kolivan sat down to eat with them, which was unusual enough. People had been dropping like flies from meal times recently.

Breakfast was a very awkward affair.

Hunk and Lance shared a look, waiting for Allura and Coran to mention something about team bonding or finding Shiro, now that they had the team all in one place. But nothing happened. Allura and Coran ate quickly, rushing off as soon as they’d finished. Pidge left not long after.

So much for that, Lance thought.

Meanwhile Keith was attacking his food as though it had personally offended him. “What’s up with the weird food lately?” He grunted.

Lance glared at him, holding Libby back from climbing onto the red paladin. “Cooking is how Hunk deals with anxiety, mullet. Back off.”

Keith glanced up and gave Lance an odd look, then shrugged and proceeded to eat.

“I was planning on heading down to the training deck to relieve some stress,” Kolivan said.  
“Would any of you be interested in joining me?”

Slav shakes his head. “Not for me, thanks. I only know how to fight in 2% of realities. And that doesn’t include this one.”

They all ignored Slav.

“I’m up for it,” Lance said, smiling. He’d been dying to do something active, having been sluggishly tired for so long. His limbs were tingling with the mere thought of exercise.

Kolivan nodded, his lips twitching upwards.

“I’ll take Libby for you, Lance,” Hunk said. “We’ll come along and watch.”

Lance’s eyebrow’s shot up, then he grinned. “Thanks, man. That’d be fab. Unless you want to join in too?”

Hunk chuckled nervously, then glanced at Kolivan. “Nah, that’s fine. I’ll just watch. Watching is good.”

Keith frowned, looking between Lance and Hunk. Since when did Hunk help out with Libby? Odd.

“I bet you know loads of cool moves, Kolivan. I mean, you’re the leader of the Blade, of course you’re going to be an amazing fighter. You could probably take us all down in one move, am I right? I’m right. You’re totally badass. Can you teach me to fight like you? I’ve never been great at close combat…” Lance ranted.

Keith could’ve sworn that Kolivan was blushing. The Blade leader was totally flustered under all the attention he was now receiving and definitely put out by Lance’s sudden enthusiasm. Keith could empathise with him; Lance was a lot and Keith himself was only just figuring out how to handle that.

“I’ll come,” he said.

All eyes turned to Keith.

Wait, since when was he planning on agreeing to this? Keith paused, then sighed. “Yeah, I’ll join you. Why not?” He hadn’t been down to the training room is ages; he hadn’t felt the desire to. But now, Keith figured it was as good a time as any to get back on the horse, so to speak.

“Great!” Lance stood up and passed Libby over to Hunk. “Let’s do this thing!”

…

Training was a disaster.

Keith had been mistaken in thinking that getting back into the game would make him feel any better. It didn’t. It made him feel worse. His reflexes were awful, his aim abysmal, and his strength was sapped from all those days locked away in his room. Keith became very moody, very fast.

“Lance, on your six!” He cried.

Keith winced as Lance was slow to react and got swept off his feet by the drone. He thought he’d given sufficient warning, but apparently not.

Lance yelped and landed on his lower back. For a moment he just lay there, slumped on the floor.

“Stop being a baby Lance, get up,” Keith snapped, as he stepped up to block the drone’s kick towards the blue paladin.

Lance sighed, struggling to his feet. “You know what? Blow me, Keith. I’m trying here.”

“Yeah,” Keith grunted, swinging his sword into the drone’s side before knocking it over the head. “Well try harder because I can’t fight for both of us.”

Lance rolled his eyes, shifting his bayard. “You’re such an arrogant butthead, you know that? I can’t fight for both of us. No one’s asking you to, asshole.” He shot the drone in the head multiple times.

“Really? Because you just got knocked down by nothing,” Keith said, folding his arms as the drone collapsed.

“Yeah, because you gave me no warning!”

“Bullshit!”

“Paladins,” Kolivan interrupted. “Are you ready for the next level?” He glanced between them, unamused by their antics. “This isn’t going to work if you keep bickering like children.”

Both Lance and Keith flushed. How embarrassing.

“We’re ready, Kolivan,” Lance said eventually. “Bring on level 5!” He sent the other two a winning smirk, swinging his bayard.

Keith pursed his lips. He was not in the mood for this; he should’ve just stayed in bed.

As it turns out, they sucked at level 5 even more than they’d sucked at level 4. Unsurprisingly.

Lance’s excitement quickly faded away as he got his ass handed to him more and more frequently, even with Kolivan there to step in. Keith grit his teeth as the Galra pulled Lance up from the floor once again. How could Lance be so useless? One week without training shouldn’t have reduced him to this bumbling mess. But then again, Keith couldn’t talk; he wasn’t exactly in form either.

He just wasn’t performing as well as he normally did, and it was killing him. Keith packed more weight behind his punches and kicks, and yet, the drone still bounced back. This was the cherry on the shitty cake of existence he was living at the moment. Way to remind him that he was a pointless piece of junk. Keith sighed as he flipped his sword. What would Shiro think of him now?

So Keith grew pricklier the longer the fight dragged on.

The drone ran towards Lance, who had his gun raised and was firing at it. Only, he kept missing. And missing. Not one of his shots hit the drone’s head. They hardly even hit its body.

Keith was too far away to do anything. All he could do was watch as the drone continued on its collision course towards Lance.

Luckily, Kolivan got there in time. The Galra leapt onto the drone, twisting it downwards and pinning it to the mat. The next thing they knew, his blade was buried in the drone’s chest.

“Holy mother,” Lance said, dropping to his knees.

“Are you alright, Lance?” Kolivan asked as he rose, retracting his blade. “That was a close call.”

Lance rubbed the back of neck and threw his eyes onto Hunk, who was stood on the side-lines with Libby. “I’m fine. Just a bit tired, is all. It’s been a long week.”

Kolivan nodded and held out a hand to help him up.

Lance accepted it, avoiding both his and Keith’s beady eyes.

“Perhaps we should turn the drone off for now,” Kolivan said, looking between the two paladins. “It’s clear you’re both struggling due to lack of practice. So, how about you fight me instead? We can focus on honing your personal strengths.”

Keith shrugged. It sounded like a good plan.

So they fell into formation again, this time with Kolivan in the middle as Lance and Keith circled him, preparing for their attack. Kolivan moved to strike first, bringing his blade up towards Keith, who dodged and landed a blow on Kolivan’s side. The Galra laughed, not unkindly, and spun to direct a kick at Keith’s legs. Keith fell.

Lance chose that moment to move in. He fired several shots from a distance, hitting Kolivan’s arms and shoulders. Since it was just practice, Lance was using stun rays rather that real, death-inducing lasers, so he shouldn’t have been surprised when Kolivan brushed them off like it was nothing. Kolivan left Keith on the floor and turned to Lance, running forward then leaping up. The Galra span into a kick, expecting Lance fire again. He was too late in realising his mistake.

Lance failed to react.

Blunt pain erupted in his head as Lance felt his body being propelled backwards and slamming into the mat. Fuck.

A blood-curdling scream tore through the room. Hunk wrestled a distressed Libby to keep her from toppling out of his arms as she wailed, shrieking with her hands held out towards Lance, who was now lying unconscious on the floor.

Kolivan spared them a glance before falling to his knees beside Lance. He stretched out a hand to check on him.

Another cry ripped from Libby and Kolivan was flung through the air, landing with a grunt on the other side of the room.

Hunk’s eyes widened, hugging Libby tighter. Okay, what the hell?! He turned to Keith, who was on his feet again and moving over to Lance cautiously.  
  
“Lance?” Keith asked as he knelt down, his voice low. He reached out to unclip Lance’s helmet. Keith’s stomach curdled when the memory of the last time he’d done this flashed before his eyes. He shut his eyes briefly; calm down, focus. “Lance, are you okay?” He raised a hand to Lance’s mouth; he was unconscious, but breathing. Thank quiznak. Keith glanced back at Hunk. “We better get him to medbay. He’ll probably have a concussion, and hopefully nothing else.”

“Y-yeah. Yeah, good idea,” Hunk said on his approach. Libby was still squirming in his arms, desperate to get to Lance, but she seemed to have quietened down considerably. Hunk stared down at his friend helplessly. “Goddamn it, Lance, not again. Can’t take you anywhere.”

Keith didn’t hesitate to slip his arms under Lance’s knees and shoulders, heaving him into his arms.

Kolivan hovered a safe distance away. He cleared his throat, his blade now hanging limply from one hand. “I’ll go and ready a pod.”

Keith shot him a glare. “Don’t. You’ve done enough already.”

Hunk didn’t have the heart to disagree. This had gone too far. Neither paladin was ready to train this hard so soon.

The Galra shrank back slightly but didn’t argue. His face remained eerily blank.

…

All of the pent up anger inside of him was pulsing hotly through his veins and it was a miracle that Keith managed to get Lance safely tucked away in a healing pod before exploding.

“What the hell’s wrong with you?” Keith snarled, getting up in Kolivan’s face as soon as the healing cycle had been programmed in. “You saw how out of it he was; there’s no way Lance’s reflexes could’ve kept up with you. You should have taken it easy on him!”

Hunk observed them nervously, hanging back by the pod as Libby pawed at Lance through the glass. This was not good. So not good. Keith was a hot-head and things could get out of hand really quickly if they weren’t too careful. Hunk chewed on his lip.

“Keith, please calm down,” Kolivan said, holding his hands up in surrender. “I admit I made a grave mistake. I misjudged the situation; I should have realised that neither of you were ready for this today.”

“That’s no excuse!” Keith clenched his fists. Hunk feared he was going to throw a punch, but luckily the red paladin just moved to cross his arms, probably to stop himself from doing just that. “You could’ve killed him with a hit like that. We never go that hard against each other in training; that’s what the drones are for.”

Kolivan sighed. He knew there was nothing he could say to soothe the situation, not with Keith on a war path like he was. He flicked his eyes over to the yellow paladin.

Hunk just shifted Libby in his arms, sending Kolivan a flat look.

“Hey assholes.” Pidge stormed in with her hands on her hips menacingly. “Keep it the fuck down in here. Some of us are trying to work.”

Keith glared at her. “You’re not the only one in this castle, Pidge. You can’t always get what you want.”

Pidge scoffed. “Oh that’s rich, coming from the guy who disappeared for a whole week to throw himself a pity party.”

“Guys, perhaps we should-” Hunk stepped forward, not liking where this was going at all.

Libby chose that moment to erupt into tears again, adding to the chorus of shouting. Just great.

“You know what, Pidge? You can pretend that you don’t care or that nothing’s changed, but we all know you’re just as wrecked by it as the rest of us,” Keith spat. “So stop acting like you know better.”

Pidge’s cheeks flushed red and she bared her teeth at him.

The clicking of shoes outside the door was their only warning.

“What the quiznak is happening here?!” It was Allura, in all her furious glory. Her eyes glowed fiercely enough to make Hunk take a step back. “This better not be what it looks like.”

Coran followed closely behind as the princess entered the medbay.

“Well? Someone speak up,” Allura said. Her glare was icy cold and it froze everyone in their tracks.

The only sound to be heard for a good minute or so was that of Libby bawling her head off in Hunk’s grasp. He tried his best to calm her down, stroking her head gently, but he figured the thick tension in the room was not lost on her.

Allura crossed her arms. “I was expecting more from the paladins of Voltron, but I guess I was wrong. You’re just a bunch of children.”

“That’s because we are!” Pidge cried, the red on her face deepening. “I’m fifteen! I should be going to school and learning shit, not out here fighting aliens and saving the world. None of us signed up for this!”

The statement caused Allura to hesitate as she eyed Pidge carefully.

“We were just about holding it together with Shiro here,” Pidge continued. “But now? What are we without him!?”

Libby wailed louder.

“What do you want me to do? I’m trying my best!” Allura replied, her delicate features taut. “But we still have a duty, the universe still needs Voltron.”

Pidge rolled her eyes.

Keith stepped forward. “What does it matter? There’s no Voltron without Shiro anyway, so there’s no point.”

“No point?!” Allura shrieked. “Have you forgotten about the Galra?”

“How could we ever forget? It’s all you ever talk about!” Keith clenched his fists tighter.

The lights flickered.

Allura huffed.

“Guys…” Hunk said, eyeing Libby nervously.

“Princess, maybe this discussion should be saved for another time,” Coran interrupted. “It’s clear that we’re all very tired; everyone’s saying things they don’t mean…”

“The hell I don’t mean this,” Pidge said, fling her hands out. “You just don’t want to listen.”

“You leave Coran out of this,” Allura told her.

Coran sighed.

Keith snorted. “Now you’re just deflecting.”

A piercing scream caused them all to jump. It stretched through the room, shattering glass and blowing light bulbs. Sparks spat down from the ceiling. In the blink of an eye, the medbay was drowning in darkness. The corridor was just as blackened.

It took a moment for the auxiliary power to come on and dim red lights flashed into life.

“Okay, what the fuck?” Pidge said.

Keith whipped his head around to face the Alteans, catching as they shared a knowing look with Kolivan. “What the hell is going on? And don’t pretend you don’t know.”

“Is Lance going to be safe in there?” Hunk gazed at his friend, now trapped in a powered-down healing pod.

Coran twisted his moustache, frowning. “The pods are fitted with a back-up power source, so he’ll be fine for now. Although that will run out eventually. We’ll need to get the main power back on before then, otherwise Lance will be left with no atmosphere.”

Hunk gulped.

“Can’t we just take him out now?” Keith asked quickly.

Pidge shook her head. “Interfering with the sequence or terminating it prematurely is dangerous for the patient.”

So that was a no then. Well, shit.

Allura sighed raggedly, running her hands down her face. “I’m going to check on the power crystal. Just, everyone stay here. Don’t move, and don’t start any more arguments while I’m gone.” She paused, glancing at Coran then back. “We have something important to discuss when I return.”

Pidge shared a look with Keith. That didn’t sound ominous at all.

…

The crystal was intact. Thank the Ancients. It had just been overwhelmed by the sudden burst of quintessence Libby had released.

Allura placed her hand against the crystal’s jagged surface. She felt its energy surge beneath her fingers and she urged it to function normally. Luckily, it was quite willing to fall back into its regular rhythm and began to switch the castle’s main power back on.

Although, the crystal’s overall power level had diminished significantly since the last time Allura had checked. That should not be the case. Power crystals did run out eventually, but only over hundreds of years, especially for one this size.

Something or someone must be sapping its energy. Libby.

Allura let out a long breath. Quiznak. They had been severely underestimating the girl’s abilities.


	2. Treading Water

When Allura returned, the air seemed even thicker than before in the medbay. Although everyone had taken a seat at the table, no one was speaking and their eyes were all pinned to different points in the room. Allura was relieved to find that the healing pod appeared to be functioning properly again; at least that was one less thing to worry about.

“I’ve just been to check the ship’s controls, Princess,” Coran announced, getting up from his stool. “You’ll be pleased to know that everything is fully operational. However, our wormhole capabilities have still not recovered.”

Allura nodded. “Well, that’s to be expected. Thank you, Coran.” She crossed the medbay, eyeing its occupants carefully. Allura tried to gather her thoughts and prepared herself for the long-overdue conversation. Her gaze slid over to Lance briefly and she pursed her lips. She’d let the situation spiral out of control.

But what was that exactly? After visiting the crystal, it was clear that their situation was still terrifyingly unknown.

Hunk cleared his throat, drawing everyone’s attention onto him and breaking the silence. “I, er… I just want to come out and say that I think there’s something wrong with Libby. That’s it, that’s all.”

Allura settled her eyes on Coran and Kolivan. It was time to tell them everything. She laced her fingers together. “Hunk, you are right in thinking that.” She winced slightly as she caught sight of Keith and Pidge sitting up straighter in their seats. “Coran, Kolivan, Slav and I have suspected Libby’s… unique nature… for a while now. This past week we’ve been researching Altean witchcraft as much as we could, to try and get an understanding of what has been happening with Libby.”

“Altean witchcraft? Why?” Pidge asked.

Keith clenched his fists on top of the table. “And why are we only just hearing about this?”

Hunk glanced down at Libby, then back up. He didn’t falter in holding her, but his eyes widened considerably.

“We- I wanted to be sure of the danger or risks that she posed to the team, before informing you,” Allura said after a moment’s hesitation. “I didn’t want to put more weight on your shoulders than necessary.”

Keith scoffed.

Pidge elbowed him then leant forward with her arms on the table. “So what did you find out?”

“Libby has Altean DNA as well as Galran,” Coran said. “We think that must be the source of her powers, but we’re still not entirely sure.”

Allura nodded. “He’s right. Certain Altean genes have the ability to control quintessence, which is the basis of Altean magic. I have such genes, as did my mother. However, Libby’s powers seem different from my own, considering their manifestation and intensity.”

“Oh my God,” Pidge gaped. “So cool.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Do go on Princess. Ignore the nerd here.”

Pidge stuck her tongue out at him.

“We have reason to believe that Libby’s Galran DNA is amplifying or at least affecting the Altean magic in Libby’s genes.”

Allura paused to let the information sink in.

“So you’re saying that what Libby did in the training room and here was to do with her… magic?” Hunk asked, tapping his fingers against his arm.

“What happened in the training room?” Coran cut in, frowning.

Kolivan sighed. “I was thrown across the room. I presume by Libby.”

“Yeah, just after he knocked Lance out,” Keith said, glowering.

Coran twisted his moustache and glanced at the Princess. “Interesting.”

Keith raised an eyebrow. “Interesting?”

“Her powers are more extensive that my own,” Allura concluded. “That much is devastatingly obvious.”

Pidge raised a finger. “How do you know it’s Altean magic at all? Unless you’ve analysed her DNA?”

Allura hesitated.

“When Libby first exhibited her powers, attacking Haggar from the castle, Altean markings appeared below her eyes,” Coran said. “They’ve faded now though, but I’m sure they’ll return. Only someone possessing Altean genes could bear such markings.”

Keith’s eyes flew wide. “Libby attacked Haggar, what the fuck? How?”

“She corrupted Haggar’s weapon, the one she used to draw the quintessence out of Voltron,” Kolivan explained. “Libby managed to fire the weapon’s power back at Haggar and her druids. She saved you from a second, fatal blast.”

“Jesus,” Keith gasped. He ran his hands through his hair, bringing them down over his face. He looked over to Hunk, who still had the child in question bundled up on his lap.

Libby was sat there quietly now. Her eyes were still locked onto Lance and her tiny mouth was curled downwards in discontent.

“She’s just a toddler,” Keith said, shaking his head. Then his mind jumped to what Thace told him before the explosion. This was bad. He turned his eyes to Lance, who was barely visible through the frosted glass.

Allura pursed her lips. “I know.”

Hunk was busy staring at Libby’s face, searching for those invisible markings. But there was nothing to see but purple fur.

“Hunk, do you know if Lance had spotted any changes in Libby’s behaviour over the last week?” Coran asked.   
  
Hunk’s head shot up. “Yeah, yeah definitely. Libby’s sleeping pattern has been crazy since the Grand Plan. Lance figured she’d been having nightmares or something, because he hadn’t been able to sleep for more than a few hours a night. That was until we started the sleepovers… but anyway. Libby seems to be super afraid of being left alone; she wants to be touching one of us like all the time. She’s pretty traumatised by everything that’s happened, but we’re helping her through it.”

Keith stared at Lance harder; no wonder he’d been fighting so terribly. God, Keith felt like an absolute dick.

Allura frowned. “This is concerning. So, you’ve been helping Lance with this?”

Hunk nodded. “Yeah, for this past week.” He scratched the back of his neck. “I, er, was working through my own problems the week before. But like I said, sleepovers have helped a lot. We’re both sleeping much better since.”

“So Lance is alright now?” Coran asked.

Hunk shrugged. “I’m not sure. He’s better, that’s for certain. But he’s still pretty dead on his feet. It’s like Libby’s been sapping the energy out of him; it’ll take him a while to recover I reckon.” He paused. “That’s kids for you though.” But Hunk didn’t seem convinced.

Keith bit his lip, shifting his eyes onto Allura. “Libby couldn’t actually do that, could she? Sap the energy from him?” He glanced at Hunk, which was enough to know that he was wondering the same.

Allura swallowed. Considering what Libby had done to the crystal, it was very possible. Likely, even.

“I’ll lend a hand with research, if you want,” Pidge said. “I’ve been meaning to dredge through the archives for a while now… I’ve just been preoccupied lately. But now I’ll move it to the top of my list. I can handle the Galra biology side, if you guys continue to research the Altean side.”

Allura smiled. “That would be appreciated, Pidge.”

Pidge flashed a smile back. “I’ve suggested this before, but I’m gonna bring it up again. I really think that running some non-invasive tests with help with understanding Libby’s biology, since she appears to be a very special case. That way I can analyse her DNA and hopefully come up with some answers to our many, many questions.”

A realisation hit Keith. Pidge hadn’t been referring to Keith in that conversation on Olkarion; she’d been talking about Libby. No wonder everyone had been urging her to get Lance’s permission. Keith’s cheeks burned as he felt a wave of embarrassment crash over him. Good thing hadn’t said anything back then.

“What about Lance?” Keith asked, pulling himself out of his thoughts.

Pidge sighed. “Lance is in a pod because of all this. We can’t afford to be in the dark on this any longer. Who know’s what Libby’s gonna do next?”

Keith frowned as he eyes drifted back over to Lance. “She was Thace’s daughter,” he said. “He told me her name was Mywa.”

Everyone turned to Kolivan for answers. Keith was the last to, reluctantly dragging his eyes away from the healing pod.

Kolivan’s eyes were wide, his mouth agape. “I was unaware that Thace had a daughter.”

Keith shrugged. “He adopted her. I don’t know where from.”

“He always did have a soft spot for younglings,” Kolivan mused. “That must be why he sent us that intel about those prisoners, knowing we’d free them; he must’ve known that his daughter was being brought to Zarkon’s ship.”

“Haggar,” Keith corrected. “Thace said that Haggar’s after her because she’s special.” He shivered. “Now I realise what he meant.”

“This is very bad news,” Kolivan said.

Allura nodded, her face stony.

“So we’re all in agreement about those tests, then?” Pidge cut in. She adjusted her glasses, her gaze lingering on Keith in particular.

Keith gave her a slight nod.

“I’ll stand by to keep her calm,” Hunk said. “Are we doing this now?”

Pidge nodded. “I think it’s best. Coran, can you help?”

“Of course, number five.”

“Then let’s get this show on the road,” Pidge said. She stood up and the three of them moved into the medical lab, which branched off from the medbay. All the equipment they’d need was in there.

That left Kolivan, Allura, and Keith.

“Princess, I think it would be prudent to discuss the Blade’s role moving forward,” Kolivan said.

Allura sighed. He was talking about Libby’s relocation. She nodded. “Very well. Please excuse us, Keith.”

They left swiftly, leaving Keith in the medbay to wallow in his thoughts, which was a dangerous habit lately. The urge to lock himself away in his room was strong.

But no. His mind had other ideas.

His eyes found Lance yet again and his desire to move evaporated. Lance would be out in a couple of hours, according to Pidge. Keith shifted his stool around so he had a better view, then he leant back, resting his arms on the table behind him. Keith should just wait here, watching over him. He had nothing else to do anyway.

…

“Have you been here this whole time?” Hunk asked, appearing from the medical lab with Libby wrapped around him.

Keith startled. He’d gotten lost in his thoughts again damnit. “Yeah. Is Pidge done with Libby now?”

Hunk smiled softly. “Yeah, she’s free to go.”

A toothy grin broke out on Libby’s face when she caught sight of Keith. She squealed, holding her hands out for him.

“You alright to take her?” Hunk asked, amused.

Keith nodded and moved to liberate the little girl from Hunk’s arms and cuddled her against his chest. “Hey there,” he said. He laughed as Libby’s hands went straight to his hair.

Despite all that’s happened, with all they knew now, Keith couldn’t bring himself to fear her. Despite all the immense power coiled up in such a small being, Keith knew she meant no harm. Although she couldn’t control her powers, Libby has only used her magic to protect them, or when her emotions overwhelmed her. They couldn’t fault her for that.

“How’re you holding up?” Hunk asked him, sitting down on the nearest stool.

Keith considered lying, but then he caught the genuine concern in Hunk’s eyes and faltered. “Not great. These past couple of weeks…” He didn’t know where to start.

Hunk hummed in solidarity.

“Let’s just say, they’ve been tough. Really tough,” Keith said. “I’ve been in my room most of the time.”

“Yeah, we noticed,” Hunk smiled gently. “Lance told me he checked the ship’s scanners several times to make sure you were still on board.”

Keith whipped his head up. “He what?” Warmth spread through his chest.

Hunk chuckled. “I know right? I was in my own anxiety bubble for the first week, caring about food and nothing else. Lance was still just about in his right mind. He was checking up on all three of us, making sure we were all hanging in there.” He sighed. “No one was doing that for him though. I didn’t notice how terrible he looked until this week. I still feel awful about that.”

“That’s not your fault,” Keith said. “Like you said, you’re anxiety was overwhelming you; you had to work through that first. I’m sure Lance doesn’t blame you for that, he wouldn’t.”

Hunk nodded. “Oh, I know that. That’s why I feel so bad; Lance is so understanding about everything. I just feel like I owe him big time now, and I’m doing my best to make up for it.”

“That’s why you’re helping out with Libby so much.” Everything made sense now.

Libby giggled, tugging on a lock of Keith’s dark hair.

“Yup. We’re sleepover buddies now,” Hunk said. “We also have baking sessions that Libby loves. Although cleaning her up afterwards is a real pain. You’re welcome to join in with either, or both, if you want.”

Keith’s eyes brightened. “You mean that?”

Hunk nodded, grinning. “‘Course dude. Besides, if you ever want to talk about anything, Lance and I are here. We’re great listeners.”

“Even Lance?” Keith teased, quirking an eyebrow.

“You wouldn’t think so, with how much he likes to run his mouth, but yeah,” Hunk said. “Lance’s an amazing listener. He’s not always good with giving advice, but he’ll let you rant to him for hours with no judgement.”

Keith felt his cheeks heat up.

“But, like I said, feel free to hang out with us anytime. We’re a team, after all.” Hunk’s grin widened. “You just have to be prepared to hear Libby cry a lot. She cries a lot more now, especially if you try to put her down. She’s not a fan of that anymore.”

Keith laughed lightly. “Yeah, okay. I’ll consider it. Thanks.” He turned his attention to Libby, who had moved on from his hair to fiddle with the neckline of his t-shirt.

Hunk clapped his hands together. “Oh my God and we can teach you to play Ulap!”

“U- what?”

“|t’s an Altean board game that Lance found on one of his all-nighters last week,” Hunk explained. “He translated it and showed it to me a few days ago. It’s super fun, but so addictive. We’ve been playing it every day ever since. You need to get in on this, Keith. Trust me.”

Keith sent him an amused look. “Okay, sure. You can teach me this U- what was it again?”

“Ulap.”

“Ulap,” Keith repeated. “Right.”

Hunk moved to stand. “I’m gonna go and find it, it’ll probably be tucked away in Lance’s room somewhere, and we’re gonna start this right now. You are missing out, buddy. Missing out.”

Keith laughed as Hunk hurried out of the room. Libby soon joined in.

It wasn’t long before he returned with a rectangular box tucked under his arm and Hunk was setting up the game on the table, babbling about various instructions and techniques. Hunk vowed that they would play until Lance woke up. Keith smiled and went along with it happily.

…

Things were going as well as could be expected in the medical lab. Images from the brain scans they had done on Libby, which were perfectly harmless to her, were laid out across the desk. Coran was comparing them with other brain scans of Alteans and Galras they’d found in the archives. Meanwhile, Pidge was carrying out a couple of tests on the blood sample’s they’d taken and analysing the DNA in some hair strands. They were hoping that all this would be able to shed some light on the situation.

Coran stroked his moustache. “From looking at these brain scans, Libby appears to be exhibiting a sort of quintessence imbalance. I’ve never seen anything like this before.” He raised a particular scan up and it expanded to become a 3D image. With a finger he spun the brain around. “Libby seems to be burning through quintessence at a tremendous rate, faster than any other species I’m aware of.”

Pidge set the vial she was holding aside, joining Coran by the scans. She gazed up at the projection. “What does this mean? I’m still not completely sure of how quintessence works, chemically.”

“It’s a complex substance, that’s for sure,” Coran mused. “Well, number five, most species maintain a fairly stable quintessence level throughout their lifetimes, unless they become sick or injured, in which case the level dips.” He pointed to the glowing synapses firing in the image of Libby’s brain. “The overactivity here suggests that Libby is taking quintessence in from outside sources, to then manipulate it and expel it is various forms. That’s how her abilities work.”

Pidge hummed, pushing her glasses up. “And by outside sources, you mean other living things?”  
“Yes. You must be alive, in some respect, to have a store of quintessence,” Coran said. “Now, I think by checking Lance’s quintessence levels we’ll have our answer.”

He rushes out of the room with Pidge right behind him. Hunk and Keith look up at the commotion, they seemed to be playing some sort of game. Libby was balanced on Keith’s lap as she played with an Altean rattle.

“Oh, hey guys,” Hunk greeted. “How’s it going? Found anything yet?”

“Maybe…” Pidge said. She and Coran wasted no time in reaching Lance’s pod. “Which one shows quintessence?”

“What are you doing?” Keith asked, narrowing his eyes. “Is Lance okay?”

Coran sent him a thumbs up. “Nothing to worry about, number four. We’re just verifying a theory.”

Keith didn’t look convinced.

Coran tapped his finger twice against the small outline of a humanoid body on the control panel. The image flashed before a symbol appeared on the torso. Coran frowned. “Interesting.”

“Good or bad interesting?” Pidge asked, peering over his arm. “What does that mean?”

“Back to the lab,” Coran announced, dragging Pidge away from the pod and past the boys. Once the door was closed behind them, Coran let Pidge go and moved towards the scans again. “Lance is seriously deficient in quintessence. Hunk was right. Libby is sapping Lance’s energy; she’s absorbing his quintessence!”

Pidge gaped. “What does that mean? Will he be okay?”

“The healing pods are designed to cure injuries or illness by releasing doses of quintessence to the patients,” Coran explained. “So Lance will not be in any immediate danger while he’s healing. He will return to his normal level soon. That said, I’m extremely surprised that Lance survived this long with so little quintessence. If a permanent solution isn’t found…”

“Libby will end up killing him,” Pidge finished. She bit her lip. “Quiznak.”

Coran sighed. “Quiznak, indeed.”

“Is Lance the only one effected?” Pidge asked. “Could it be possible that Libby is sapping quintessence from more than one source? She seems to require a whole lot of it, and Lance is not deficient enough to be supplying it all.”

“You’re right. I believe that due to Lance’s role as Libby’s main caretaker, that he’s her main source,” Coran said. “But he can’t be the only one.” He moved to pick up a portable scanner. “I will check Hunk’s levels and report back.”

Pidge let out a long breath as she heard the door swing shut behind Coran. Another shit storm. Great. Just what they needed. She rubbed at her eyes; she was too tired for this damnit.

“Hunk’s levels are normal,” Coran announced on his return. “Nothing to be worried about there.”

“Okay, so the current theory is that Lance, by assuming the parental role, made himself the prime target for Libby’s quintessence-stealing habits,” Pidge summed up. “I need to jot all this down.” She pulled out an empty notebook and wrote down their hypothesis, variables, and data. Pidge, in scribbled handwriting, labelled the book ‘Liberty’.

“We should inform the Princess,” Coran said, eyeing Pidge as she finished up.

Pidge nodded, slotting the book under one arm. “I agree. She can help us brainstorm ways to fix this.”

…

Allura was quiet for a long time as she flipped through the pages of the ‘Liberty’ notebook. Her cheeks paled considerably the deeper she delved into it. Eventually, she closed the book and she pressed her hand against the cover as she raised her eyes to Pidge and Coran. “This is beyond worrying. Is this everything you’ve discovered?”

“I’ve yet to finish analysing the blood and DNA samples, but we figured this was the most pressing issue,” Pidge said. “Considering Lance will be waking up in…” She glanced at her watch. “Just over an hour.” Pidge took one look at the Alteans then corrected herself. “Just over two vargas.”

“I believe this is just the tip of Libby’s powers,” Allura admitted. “When I went down to the crystal, it had been drained. Not completely, but enough to be a cause for concern. And now you say she’s been sapping Lance too.”

This was terrible news. No wonder Haggar was interested in her.

Coran stepped forwards. “Princess, you know what this means for Lance. Libby cannot be allowed to latch onto him like this any longer; his body would not tolerate it. We must work on a solution immediately.”

Allura nodded. “What ideas do you have?”

“We’ll need a temporary fix,” Pidge said. “At least until we can work out something more permanent. I was thinking… Coran, you said that the healing pods function by releasing quintessence. Is there any way we could hook Libby up to one so that she could absorb the quintessence she needs from there?”

Allura laced her fingers. “It’s possible that it would be enough, seeing as she’s taking from the power crystal too. The healing pod could stop her from turning to Lance’s quintessence to fill the gap.”

Coran nodded. “We could organise a transferral session every morning, which should be able to tide Libby over for the rest of the day. If we monitor both of their levels for the first few days, to make sure no top-ups are need, it should do the job.”

“Brilliant.” Allura smiled. “We’ll sort something out for after Lance wakes up. Since he’s the one at risk, the first procedure can wait until he’s all healed. He’d want to be involved.”

“I agree,” Coran said.

“Okay.” Pidge nodded. “That’s fair enough. In the meantime, I’ll work on bracelets of some sort to remotely siphon quintessence from the healing pods. That way, they can act as constant, portable versions of the transferral process.”

“They would provide a steady flow of quintessence that would cancel out Libby’s imbalance,” Allura clarified. “She wouldn’t need to harm Lance anymore. Although I doubt it would have any effect on her powers…That’s genius, Pidge.”

Pidge smiled. “Let’s hope it works then.”

Coran gripped her shoulder. “Well done, number five. Now let’s hurry, there’s plenty to do before Lance wakes.”

…

When Lance was thrown back into consciousness, the first thing he registered as the healing pod opened up was the sound of Hunk and Keith yelling at each other in excitement. He blinked furiously to try and shake away the blur of sleep. The pair of them were on stools by the table, with Libby sat on top of the flat surface, jiggling her legs and giggling at the boys’ antics.

Lance took a shaky step forward.

Libby’s golden eyes locked onto the movement immediately and she squealed loudly upon seeing him.

That drew the others’ attention.

“Lance!” Keith darted forward to catch him as Lance’s knees caved in.

Hunk was on his feet too. “You alright there, buddy?”

Lance gave them a thumbs up. “Peachy. I might need to sit down for a bit though.”

“Obviously, dumbass,” Keith said, taking most of Lance’s weight as they made their way over to the table.

“Thanks.” Lance collapsed onto a stool. His limbs felt like jelly; it wasn’t like this the last time he’d gone in a healing pod. “Hey there sweetie!” He grinned as he spun around to pull Libby into his arms, just about managing to pick her up.

Libby quickly snuggled up against Lance’s chest and buried her head in the crook of his neck.

“Hunk, I can’t believe you’re teaching Keith to play Ulap,” Lance cried, his grin widening when he caught sight of the coloured board and scattered counters. “Good on you.” Then his blue eyes found Keith’s. “It’s super fun isn’t it!? Are you addicted yet? Who’s winning?”

Keith couldn’t help but smile back and laughed lightly at Lance’s enthusiasm. “Hunk’s winning this round.”

Lance scoffed. “Who am I kidding, there’s no way you could beat Hunk so soon. He’s the master- better than me even!”

“Shocking,” Keith said, fighting to keep the warmth out of his cheeks. “I’m surprised you’d admit his superiority.”

“I’ll still beat your sorry ass, mullet-head, don’t you worry.” The comment lacked its usual bite, however, when Lance tagged a wink to the end of it.   
  
Keith was sure his face turned bright red.

Lance rocked Libby in his arms gently, whispering to her softly in Altean. He stroked her ears, cheeks, and arms soothingly, trying to make up for the hours with no contact. Then his hand stilled. “What’s this?”

“Er…” Hunk rubbed the back of his neck. “A space plaster.”

“I’ve been out for what, two hours?” Lance asked, glaring at them. “What the hell could’ve happened to Libby in that time? Huh?”

“Funny you should ask…” Hunk bit his lip and turned to Keith nervously. “Keith?”

Keith pursed his lips. Then he sighed. “Lance, you have to understand… you were hurt and people kind of lost their shit. There was this huge argument.”

“Keith was partly to blame for that,” Hunk added. He winced under Keith’s scowl. “Sorry.”

Lance looked between them. “Guys. Let’s stay on track here.”

“Right, so then Libby was screaming and suddenly the power was gone,” Keith continued. “The lights were blown and everything.”

Hunk shivered. “It was mildly terrifying.”

Lance frowned and glanced at Libby. “Go on.”

So Keith proceeded to explain, in great detail, what had gone down. When he’d finished, a beat of silence passed between them.

Lance drifted his eyes over his friends, trying to work out if they were being honest with him. “You’re serious.”

Hunk and Keith nodded.

“Quiznak,” Lance gasped. He shifted Libby on his lap so he could stare down at her, taking in her appearance. “She’s really half Altean? I guess that makes sense… she doesn’t really look like any other Galra we’ve met.”

“Allura said she saved us from Haggar,” Keith said. “These powers she has, Libby’s been using them to help us, protect us.” He was eyeing Lance closely.

“Obviously. Libby’s a sweetheart; she would never hurt anyone.” Lance rubbed her cheeks and grinned down at her.

Libby grabbed one of his hands in her tiny ones, bringing it up to her mouth to lick it softly.

Keith opened his mouth to say something, then decided against it. Hunk nudged him in the ribs. He sighed. “Lance, there’s more.”

“Yeah…You gonna spill about this plaster?” Lance raised an eyebrow at him. “Or do I have to ask Allura?”

“No, we’ll tell you,” Keith said. “But you’re not gonna like it.”

Lance narrowed his eyes. “Why don’t you let me decide that, huh? Hit me.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Basically, Pidge ran some non-invasive tests on Libby with Coran to try and get some answers.” He turned to Hunk. “What did they do exactly?”

“Brains scans, blood tests, and took a hair sample,” Hunk said. “Nothing serious. She was perfectly safe.”

“Yeah, so now they’re analysing her DNA or something and trying to figure out how her powers work,” Keith explained. “For our protection and hers. We need to understand what’s happening here. It could be dangerous.”

Lance’s expression was oddly blank.

“Lance?” Hunk leaned forward to place a hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay?”

“No, I’m not okay,” Lance replied, hauling Libby into his arms and standing up. “Could you guys not have waited until I was out of that damn pod to make that decision?! I can’t believe you all went ahead with this without even bothering to consider my opinion!”

Keith winced.

“Allura and Coran had no right to keep this from us. No right to keep this from me!” Lance went on. “Who the fuck do they think is taking care of her? I am! When they were off researching secret shit, I was dying of exhaustion for a week. So screw that. I searched for Coran that week, trying to ask for his help. But I guess he had better stuff to do.”

“Lance,” Hunk tried to stop him as he made to leave.

“You need to calm down,” Keith said softly. “Being angry won’t help.”

Lance threw Hunk’s hand off his shoulder. “Don’t touch me. Also, screw you Keith. I have every right to be pissed off.” He stormed out of the room. Lance had never felt so betrayed in his life. He’d never felt more like the seventh wheel than he did right now. The others didn’t care what he thought? Well hard luck. He was gonna damn well tell them.

“Lance, wait.” It was Keith, jogging to catch up with him as he ploughed down the corridor.

“Go away Keith,” Lance said. He turned around. “Don’t forget you kept something from me too.”

Keith’s chest constricted painfully. “I’m sorry,” he gasped.

But Lance had already disappeared out of sight.

“I’m gonna start making lunch,” Hunk said, coming up beside Keith. “I have a feeling people are gonna want to drown their feelings in food after this all dies down. You’re coming too.” Hunk looped his arm under Keith’s and dragged him towards the kitchen.

Keith couldn’t help but think that if Shiro was here, all of this could’ve been avoided.

…

Lance found them on the bridge. Allura, Coran, and Pidge were crowded around the table with papers spread out before them. They seemed tense and focused, not even noticing when Lance made his entrance with Libby’s wrapped around his front.

“Pidge you sneaky little bastard,” he called out, causing the trio to spin around in surprise. “You rushed to get those tests done because you knew I’d stop you!”

“Lance!” Allura cried. She plastered on a smile. “I’m glad to see you healed.”

Lance ignored her, his eyes never straying from Pidge. “Well, you gonna try and deny it or what?”

“No,” Pidge said, shifting her glasses. “I knew you’d oppose. But we had no choice.”

Lance scoffed. “Sure! No choice. You had the choice to wait for me or not. I just wanted to come here a let you know what I thought, since none of you seem to give a quiznak.”

“Lance, please,” Allura cut in.

“Don’t get me started on you, Allura,” Lance raged. “How dare you and Coran decide what I get to know about Libby! I’m basically her adopted parent, no one else has really bothered to take care of her at all. Except Coran and now Hunk. You’d probably just prefer to dump her on the Blade of Marmora when we get there, wouldn’t you?!”

Allura gulped. Lance couldn’t know about that plan, could he?

Coran stepped forward. “Lance,” he said, trying to soothe him. “How about I take Libby for a bit and we can discuss this in a civilised manner?”

Pidge shot Coran a look, realisation hitting her at once. Libby would have already started to sap Lance’s quintessence again. Shit.

Lance jerked away from Coran, tightening his hold on the little girl. “If you and Allura hadn’t been so desperate to keep Libby’s magic a secret and hadn’t locked yourselves away in discussions, research, or whatever the fuck you were doing for all those hours last week, maybe you would’ve actually noticed how shattered and run down I’ve been. But no. I had to feel like shit and keep going because there was no one to back me up.”

Coran gaped as Lance spun and left.   
“So who wants to be the one to tell mama bear about the quintessence imbalance?” Pidge spoke up.

“What does this have to do with bears?” Coran asked, frowning.

…

Lance retreated to the kitchen. He was starving, as he always was after healing pod treatment. He’s vaguely surprised to find Keith helping Hunk cook some sort of soup. Whatever it was, it smelt amazing.

“I’m telling you, I need some space alcohol, stat,” Lance announced, throwing himself into the nearest chair. “Is there any of that nunvil left?”

“Lance!” Hunk spun around, a large spoon in one hand. “H- how you doing buddy?”

Lance rolled his eyes, but accepted the hug when Hunk offered it.

“You mean, that stuff from the party with the Arusians?” Keith asked in a strained voice, not having moved from his position at the counter, too busy chopping vegetables.

“That’s the one.” Lance nodded, passing Libby onto Hunk.

“Have you forgotten how disgusting that was?” Keith was almost gagging just thinking about it.

“At this point I no longer care,” Lance replied. He turned to Hunk. “Do we have any? I just blew up at Pidge, Coran, and Allura. I need to drink my problems away.”

Hunk shook his head, shoving his spoon into Lance’s hands since his were now full of toddler. “Uh uh, no way. You know alcohol isn’t the way to solve our problems. Here,” Hunk said, manoeuvring Lance to the other side of Keith where a big pot of liquid was bubbling. “Stir. I’ll grab you some sweets I made yesterday.”

“Uh thanks Hunk,” Lance said. He lifted the spoon and began to stir the viscous soup. It was yellow with coloured vegetable chunks. It didn’t look particularly appetising, but if Hunk was in charge of cooking it, then it was sure to be good.

A minute later, a bowl of pink and blue stars appeared on the counter next to Lance.

“Hunk, I love you buddy,” Lance moaned around the sweets. “These are delicious. I am cured.”

The three settled down into a quiet and peaceful rhythm. Before long, Hunk had replaced Keith as the principal veg chopper and peeler, moving Keith on to stirring duty. Lance ended up sitting on the counter watching them both as he played with Libby on his lap and idly ate through the pile of sweets. Libby was very determined to touch the cooking equipment and Lance had to move sharp objects out of her reach several times.

Unbeknownst to Lance, Keith and Hunk had been having a very interesting and heartfelt conversation before the blue paladin had made an appearance. They’d talked about Lance, unsurprisingly.

Keith could feel the goosebumps littered across his arms as he stood mere centimetres from Lance’s warm body. He was cooing to Libby in Altean again and Keith couldn’t help but be distracted by Lance’s low tone. Those familiar butterflies were back. Maybe he was just nervous. Keith took a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

“Lance,” he said, blatantly ignoring how his voice cracked. “D’you know, I mean, when- er.”

Blue eyes slid over and locked onto Keith’s reddening face. “Hm?”

Keith cleared his throat. “D’you think you’ll ever forgive me? You know, for not telling you about what Thace said on Zarkon’s ship.” He finally gathered the courage to look at Lance head on.

Lance shrugged. He considered Keith for a moment. “I’m still mad at you, don’t get me wrong.”

Keith sighed, turning his focus back onto the soup.

“Hey, I’m still talking to you,” Lance said, nudging Keith with his foot to make the other boy lift his eyes again. “What you kept from be wasn’t that big in the scheme of things, so yeah, I forgive you. Just don’t do it again, okay?”

Keith pursed his lips, clearly taken back by Lance’s willingness to cooperate. “I won’t, I promise.”

“Then I guess we’re good.”

“Good, great.”

Hunk wanted to thank not only God but also Jesus that this conversation hadn’t ended in blood. He let out an internal sigh. That’s one less thing to worry about. Now they just had to deal with the rest of the team.

The pair were so caught up in each other that they didn’t even notice when Hunk snuck out of the kitchen for a few minutes.

Lance was tickling the sole of Libby’s foot softly as Keith continued with his stirring duties. “I just feel so betrayed by it all, you know? It’s like they don’t value my opinion at all.” He hung his head to one side in desolation, his anxieties and fears building up in his chest once again.

“I didn’t want them to do it,” Keith admitted. “When Pidge suggested it, I told them we should wait for you.”

There was an odd glint in Lance’s eyes when Keith glanced over.

Keith sighed. “But, seeing you in that pod again… I mean, I know that Kolivan did that, but it’s only a matter of time before the issue of Libby’s powers comes back to bite us in the ass. And don’t say it won’t- it will. Of course it will, we’re Voltron. Besides, we know that Haggar’s after her and that can’t be a good sign. So, although I disagreed with their timing, Pidge and the others only wanted to protect this team. We can’t fault them on that.”

Lance pressed his lips together, his expression unreadable.

“And they do respect your opinion Lance, and they respect you,” Keith went on. “We all do. Never doubt that.”

Lance sniffed. “Look, I know you’re right. I was overreacting. But I’m still pissed off. Just give me time; I’ll get over it eventually. And thanks, that means a lot.”  
Keith smiled warmly, catching his eyes. “You weren’t overreacting. You had every right to be angry.”

“Hmm, being angry is tiring though.” Lance returned the smile.

Hunk burst back into the room. “Guys, I have music.”

“You what?”

Lance hopped off the counter and swung Libby around excitedly. “Oh my God, kitchen party time! Blast that music Hunk!”

Libby giggled like mad as Lance danced around the table with her.

Hunk placed the music player on the counter and fiddled with the buttons.

Keith quirked his eyebrow. “Since when do we have music? What even is that?”

“It’s an Altean version of an MP3 player,” Lance said. “It’s pretty cool, huh? Another thing I found in the rec room. I’m telling you, that place is a gold mine.”

Loud music began to blare out of the speakers, filling the kitchen with some funky instrumental music. It had a strong beat and the melody was catchy as hell. Lance started his dancing again, making Libby laugh every time he spun her around. Even Keith was tapping his feet along to it.

Hunk smirked as he caught Keith gazing at Lance’s antics, stirring idly, and completely ignoring Hunk’s cooking instructions. Kids these days. He hoped those two would figure this out soon, because God knows he can’t be dealing with much more of their pining.

…

Everyone reconvenes for lunch and boy was it tense. Lance made sure that both Hunk and Keith were sat between him and the others. They all ate in silence for a while, no one really knowing what to say with Lance being so on edge.

Libby was sat on Lance’s lap as he spoon-fed her.

Pidge and Allura eyed the pair carefully, fully aware of how their close contact was causing Lance to slowly lose his quintessence. Pidge nudged Coran, who was sat beside her. Before they’d left the bridge, the three of them had ‘elected’ Coran to make the announcement about Libby’s quintessence imbalance.

Coran pursed his lips, then put his spoon down. “This is a fabulous dish, Hunk. What did you say it was called again?”

And so the silence was broken.

“Thanks Coran!” Hunk said, eyes wide. “It’s called soup. You can make lots of different flavours. I’ve been meaning to dabble with Altean spices, so many I’ll use some of those to season it next time.”

“Wonderful.” Coran sent him a smile, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. He caught a pointed look from Allura. “There’s something we need to address, actually,” he said, facing the rest of the table. “It’s about Libby.”

That caught everyone’s attention. Even Lance’s, who had been purposely avoiding eye contact with everyone except Hunk and Keith.

Coran went on to explain the quintessence imbalance and how it’s been effecting both Lance and the ship’s power crystal. He kept his eyes moving over the whole team, but Coran lingered his gaze on Lance for the longest, knowing fully well that this concerned the blue paladin most of all.

Lance had gone several shades paler. He had an odd expression on his face and shifted Libby in his lap, pulling her closer to his chest.

Hunk was the first to snap. “What!? What does this mean!? Is Lance gonna die?”

Allura shot Hunk a sharp look. “No one’s going to die.”

“You think no one’s going to die,” Hunk corrected.

“Hunk-” Pidge cut in.

Keith had both his jaw and fists clenched. It was clear he was trying to hold himself back from doing something he’d regret.

Lance rose to his feet. “Everyone shut it. I’m not in the mood for this bullshit.”

The table fell quiet immediately.

Lance dropped his eyes onto Coran, then flicked them over to Allura and Pidge. “So what you’re saying is, I feel like an exhausted zombie because Libby’s sucking the quintessence, my life-source, out of me?”

Pidge nodded weakly. “That’s about it.”

He lowered himself back into his chair, hugging Libby tightly. Lance’s face appeared freakishly calm, but beneath it was a storm. “Is there a way to fix this?”

“Indeed!” Allura said, sitting forward. “We’ve come up with both a temporary solution and a more permanent one.”

“I’ve already started working on the latter,” Pidge added. “It should be sorted soon.”

Lance let out a breath. “Awesome. What are they?”

Pidge ran him through their plans. “Obviously though,” she added. “You have the final say.”

Lance bit his lip, but nodded. “No, it’s fine. They sound good. I say go for it; you’ve clearly thought them through. Don’t think this lets you off for lying or running those tests without my consent though, because it doesn’t.”

Coran gulped, whereas Pidge and Allura dipped their heads in shame.

“I’ve told you how I feel about that, so maybe next time you’ll think again,” Lance finished.

Hunk shared a look with Keith across the table and they waited with bated breath to see how the others were going to respond.

“Lance,” Coran said, his voice breaking. “I am deeply sorry for the pain we have caused you, that I have caused you. We only kept secrets to save you paladins from having more to worry about, you were already dealing with enough. I would never have let anything bad happen to Libby. And, I’m sorry that I didn’t help you in your time of need. I hope I can make it up to you somehow.”

A tiny smile crept onto Lance’s face and he nodded to Coran, with tears welling up in his eyes. He couldn’t bring himself to say anything though.

“I too am immensely sorry for lying to you Lance, to all of you,” Allura said. “I was the one who convinced Coran that it was the best thing to do; he didn’t want to hide anything from you. I just wanted to be sure of the situation before approaching you, not wanting to scare you with false information.”

Pidge fiddled with her glasses. “Lance, I’m not going to apologise for running those tests. Because of them we’ve discovered why you’ve been feeling so shitty recently. If we hadn’t, then you probably would’ve died in a couple of weeks, if not earlier.”

Hunk shot her a look.

“Pidge-” Keith choked out.

She rolled her eyes. “But I will apologise for doing it without your permission. Libby’s basically your kid now so… that was uncool of me. I’m sorry. I swear to you it won’t happen again.”

“You bet it won’t,” Lance said. He eyed her for a moment.

“We’ll have to check your quintessence levels regularly to make sure you don’t dip like this again,” Pidge went on. “But once I’ve finished those bracelets, then you should be in the clear.”

Lance flashed her a small smile. “Thanks Pidge.”

“Don’t thank me, I owe you.”

The table dissolved into a comfortable silence after that. Lance fed Libby the remainder of her food then Hunk took her from him so Lance could get started on his own lunch. He’d been right, Hunk’s soup was delicious.

…

The next morning, Lance met Coran and Pidge in the medbay to hook Libby up to a pod. The plan was for her to absorb enough quintessence to tide her over till the next day.

Pidge also insisted on checking Lance’s quintessence level while the transfer took place. “Stay still,” she told him, running a scanner over his body.

Lance pouted but did as he was told. “You stay still. How long should this take?”

“About thirty seconds if you don’t move.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “No, I mean Libby’s transfer thing.”

“Oh right,” Pidge said, moving away to check the data. “Not entirely sure. An hour maybe?”

“Okay, that’s not too bad. Am I free to move yet?”

Pidge waved a hand at him. “Yeah sure. You’re levels have dipped again after yesterday, but it’s nothing dangerous. They’ll return to normal over time, as long as Libby doesn’t start draining them again.”

Lance nodded. “Sweet, thanks.” He gazed over at Libby, who was sat on Coran’s lap by a healing pod with straps around her wrists that linked to the pod’s base. “How’s she doing, Coran?”

“She’s doing marvellously,” Coran replied, stroking the girl’s cheek gently then giving her a quick kiss.

Things were still tense between the three of them, but they had greatly improved since yesterday.  
Lance had had a long conversation with Hunk and Keith the night before, during their sleepover which Hunk had invited Keith to join, so he felt a lot better about everything now. Lance had put his anger behind him and was now focusing on how they were going to deal with the issue of Libby’s powers moving forward.

For the first time since Shiro’s disappearance, Lance was beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.


End file.
